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I know that I have read in numerous places that collecting rocks for your fish tank is not recommended due to contamination issues. I was wondering if there is a safe way to decontaminate rocks that you find? I live close to a river that has an abundance of rocks that would be great for a Malawi tank. I would love to be able to go pick and choose without paying a dime, but am concerned about contaminating my water. What is the best way to ensure that rocks that I find in the wild will be safe to put in my tank?

Scrub - without chemicals - a spot clean, put some vinegar (or other acid... be *careful* if it isn't vinegar) on it, and see if it bubbles - if it does, you probably don't want it (or is it the m. cichlids that like that kind of rock/ph?). If it passes the fizz test, boil 'em for a few minutes (rolling boil) and scrub them clean with a brush, no chemicals. A little salt maybe to help scrub if you really need it. Boil again once cleaned, then air dry and add to the tank.

Rocks usually don't have the same issues that driftwood, shells plants and sand have. Most rocks don't retain as much of the pollutants that the other items have problems with. Dritwood of course being one of the worst due to it's porous nature which can absorb pollutants releasing them later into your tank.

You know your waterways better than we do (I hope), if you think there might be some concern you could try contacting local authorities, or just not risk it. Otherwise I agree with the above, that's how I did mine. Hard boil (I used the microwave though, ask if it's not yours) and a scrub with an aquarium only green scratchy.

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Rocks some are very porus and no matter what you do you will never remove any nasties from them.

Babel
Have you ever seen a rock explode when it is used around an open fire. If so you would never put a rock in a MW.

Keith

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I’ve seen one crack, but never explode. I have heard of that happening though…

Just boil the rocks & give them a good scrub & then boil them again. I usually do this method with new rocks & never had any problems with my African tanks.


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I should have clarified.

They were boiled in the microwave in a large ammount of water. Sure it could have cracked, the same could be true on the stove top. I did say to ask if it wasnt your microwave for a reason.

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rinse and scrub the rocks with water, then put the rocks in a pot full of water and lots of salt, boil for say... good 10 minutes, take it out (rocks will be VERY HOT for a while) rinse again, and soak them in a bucket of salt water till they cool, thats all, i did it many times with rocks in the desert, no problems at all. becauseful when you think the rock is cooled, usually takes at least 30 minutes before the temperature is low enough to put in your tank